Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit

I am not a big Perry Mason fan, but this is the movie that got me hooked more on the movie series than the tv series. It starts out with a pretty good ghost story which I wanted to know a lot more about than the murder. We don't even see much of this spooky old edifice that the plot revolves around, but what we do see has a wonderful shadowy "Dark Shadows" Collinwood kind of feel. The murder mystery, don't get me wrong, is excellant; it has more twists and turns than a politician in a confessional booth. Raymond Burr and Barbera Hale fit into their old roles very well, but William Katt will always remind me of "The Greatest American Hero." Robert Stack emotes a great character just a few shades away from his character of Elliot Ness and Dwight Schultz plays a nervous and slightly shady character not that far unlike Lt. Barclay of Star Trek. Kim Delaney's acting reminds me too much of too many other actresses, particularly that of Joanna Going, but it may be because of too many Dark Shadows parallels: the spooky location, the ghosts, the painting, hidden rooms and the squirrely maintenance man who is almost too similar to John Karlen's Willie Loomis. In short, if it hadn't been for my fondness for ghosts and that series, I might never have seen this movie at all.